


Legacy

by katling



Series: Tony Stark Bingo [13]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, Gen, Hopeful Ending, Iron Family, Not A Fix-It, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Team Tony, Tony leaves a legacy, it's called Morgan Harley and Peter, somewhat bittersweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-07
Updated: 2019-05-07
Packaged: 2020-02-27 16:32:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,245
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18742819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katling/pseuds/katling
Summary: Harley Keener finds out what his legacy is. It's bigger than he ever expected.Written for the Tony Stark Bingo 2019 - Square R2: Harley Keener





	Legacy

**Author's Note:**

> Argh. I wrote sad post-Endgame fic. I will inevitably write fix-it fics and other fics that ignore IW and Endgame entirely but this prompt just asked for this after the funeral scene in Endgame.

Once, the only people who knew who Harley Keener was were the residents of Rose Hill, Tennessee. Now, Harley Keener, Stark heir, had been splashed across the media and the whole damn world knew his name. He wasn’t sure he liked that too much and wondered how the Mechanic had managed it for so long.

“I don’t understand,” he said, staring at Pepper Potts with confusion. “He has a daughter. And you.”

Ms Potts smiled at him faintly. “Yes, he does and the inheritance of people like Tony is always complicated. Colonel Rhodes and I already held certain stakes in SI and we retain those and there are distributions involving SI that also involve the two of you but that’s not what we’re talking about right now. What Tony is splitting between you, Peter and Morgan is his personal wealth and… his knowledge.”

Harley grimaced and sat back down at the table. The lawyer who been there had withdrawn at some point and Harley was kind of glad. The lawyer had intimidated him. Ms Potts intimidated him too but she’d been the Mechanic’s wife so it was different. He didn’t have the words to say how, just that it was different.

“So,” he began. “I still don’t get it.”

“Tony’s always held a controlling interest in SI,” she said patiently. “It was his company, he owned it and he was the majority shareholder by a significant margin, even more so after Obadiah Stane’s death. Colonel Rhodes and I hold a significant number of shares but Tony always had control. It was why he was able to make arbitrary decisions like getting out of weapons and making me CEO.”

Harley nodded slowly, the frown on his face now more one of concentration. “Okay, I get that.”

“Tony has split those shares three ways between you, Peter and Morgan,” Ms Potts continued. “I will have the proxy, so to speak, for Morgan until she turns eighteen and May will have the same for Peter until he reaches the same age – though that may be a question we need to sort out since chronologically he already is but biologically, he’s not… but that’s a question for the lawyers, not you – but you’re already eighteen. So, between you, Peter and Morgan along with Colonel Rhodes and myself, we… own SI, to put it simply.”

Harley looked down at the tabletop. “Why me?” he whispered.

“He never spoke much about you to me, though I always knew when he’d been speaking to you. He’d come out with a light in his eyes and a grin on his face that told me he’d been sciencing, as he always put it, with someone he liked,” Ms Potts said with a kind smile. “He met you at a difficult time and I think he wasn’t sure…” She paused. “He wasn’t sure where the line was with you. How much you’d allow him to do. Or be.”

A lump formed in Harley’s throat and he ducked his head, wishing he’d just told the stupid Mechanic that he’d been a better Dad to him by accident than his biological Dad had ever been. Now he’d never get the chance.

“He always considered you as much one of his kids as Morgan was. Or Peter,” Ms Potts continued softly and he wondered if she’d read his mind or whether he’d just been that obvious. Probably the latter.

“He wrote me a recommendation for MIT,” Harley said, wishing his voice didn’t sound so shaky. “I applied even though I knew I couldn’t afford it but they offered me a full scholarship.” He looked over at her. “Tony was paying for it, wasn’t he?”

Ms Potts smiled. “Yes, he was.”

Harley had to get up then and pace back and forth for a little while. If he brushed some tears away, well, Ms Potts was nice enough to not mention it. Instead she continued explaining the inheritance.

“Tony has also left you… his workshop,” she said with a fond sigh. “Not the one at home, that’s Morgan’s, but the one in Stark Tower.”

Harley frowned. “I though you sold it.”

“We were going to but after the Accords mess, Tony decided to keep it,” she said. “And after he got back after the snap, he shut up the penthouse apartment and the workshop but he didn’t strip them. He just duplicated a lot of what he needed at home.” She drew in a deep breath. “The apartment and workshop and everything in them are yours. FRIDAY will answer to you as well.”

Harley came to a halt and stared at her as the implications of that sank in. “He’s… giving me the suits?” he said slowly.

Me Potts’ expression was both sad and proud. “Yes, he is. What you do with them, whether or not you choose to take up that mantle, now or in the future, is up to you.”

Harley felt like he’d been punched in the chest. “He trusts me that much?” He didn’t care about the wobble in his voice this time.

Ms Potts had tears in her eyes but still smiled and nodded. “Yes.”

Harley fumbled his way back into his chair and scrubbed his face with both hands. A moment later, he felt Ms Potts hands against his and he let her take his hand and hold it.

“I’m sure he would like you to go to college first,” she said dryly. “So you don’t need to make any decisions now but I think… he saw a lot of himself in you and he wanted to give you the tools you’d need to fly. MIT and the workshop for one. The introduction to SI’s R&D department being the other.”

Harley raised his head. “The what?”

“He sent messages to a lot of people in R&D, talking about what you’ve been working on.” Ms Potts actually chuckled. “They want to steal you. Then they get all torn because they know you’re going to MIT so they want you to do that first, then steal you.”

Harley’s eyes widened. “Really?”

He thought about the half-assed suit plans that he had on his computer along with all the things he and Tony had been working on over the last few years. They were all his ideas. Tony had kept himself as a sounding board and a source of suggestions and knowledge, always gently pushing Harley towards the answers he needed, bolstering his confidence when he was sure he didn’t know and would be too stupid to go somewhere like MIT. 

“He was always going to do that?” he asked, shaking his head slightly.

“I think he hoped to live for much longer than he did,” Ms Potts said sadly. “But yes, I’d say he always intended to try and lure you into SI and probably also intended for you to follow as much of his path as you were willing to.”

Harley closed his eyes and felt Ms Potts squeeze his hand. “I never got a chance to…” His voice faltered and fell silent.

“He knew,” Ms Potts said softly. “He knew. He may not have always believed but he knew.”

Harley stared down at his lap and ignored the dark spots that appeared on his trousers. When he felt he could talk again, he raised his head. “Guess you’d better tell me what I need to know about SI then. I’m not going to let the Mechanic down by screwing things up.”

**Author's Note:**

> Don't worry about Morgan. She gets a bunch of other stuff and she's too young to be thinking about officially joining the Iron Family. Harley gets first dibs on that part since Peter is Spider-Man.


End file.
